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Today marks the ninth anniversary since the death of that great American writer of our generation, David Foster Wallace. For readers of Philanthropy Daily, I've dug out a superb little excerpt from Wallace's famous 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College:

"...the so-called real world of men and money and power hums merrily along in a pool of fear and anger and frustration and craving and worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom. The freedom all to be lords of our tiny skull-sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation. This kind of freedom has much to recommend it. But of course there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talk about much in the great outside world of wanting and achieving. The really important kind of freedom involves attention and awareness and discipline, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day."

 


Photo credit: Steve Rhodes via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-SAModified and edited by Philanthropy Daily for this featured article.


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